Chapter 208 Edward’s downfall
General Richard took an ATV quad bike from the garage. He rode away from the houses in the Richard mansion, but within the same compound. It was a fifteen-minute drive. He stopped in the woods. It was only tall trees at this point. He walked a little distance. He lifted a wooden lid no one would have been able to tell existed on the ground, like a secret bunker. He climbed down the stairs, then came to a hallway.
He walked in and entered the first room on his left. He was greeted by Bianca holding a syringe in her hand.
“General,” she greeted.
“Boyle is awake. He’s asking for you. Go say hi.”
Bianca didn’t show it, but she was glad he didn’t die. She dropped the syringe and walked out of the room.
Richard walked a little further and turned towards the bed.
“Are you here to finish me off?” Edward asked weakly.
His legs and hands were bandaged and tied up. Richard had shot both his hands first, back at the side of the lake, before his legs. He almost gave the killing shot but hesitated. He didn’t deserve a quick death.
“I came to catch up,” Richard said casually.
“Oliver was here today. You remember him from Blackface, right? He and Adison, my sister, have a daughter. Guess who she is? My first daughter-in-law.”
“What a happy reunion,” Edward said.
“It would have been. Edward, why?” he asked.
“Not everyone is born with opportunities like you, Richard. Sometimes we have to create our own path. And I carved mine,” Edward said.
“On the blood and tears of innocent people?”
“No life is more important than mine. I put myself first,” he said.
“I hope you enjoyed it—your life,” Richard asked.
“I did, but I only have one regret. Leaving Boyle alive. The first time I hesitated in my actions, it landed me here,” he said. “You should be grateful I didn’t even spare my own son or my wife.” He gave a cold chuckle.
“I’m grateful. That’s why you will remain alive. Since you value your life so much at the expense of others, I will let you live it.” Richard pressed hard on the injury in his leg.
Edward groaned in pain.
“You will feel the pain those thousands of people who died in the bomb blast felt—having their bones pulled out of different parts of their bodies, being burnt alive,” he said like a vow.
“Each time your body is at the verge of not taking it anymore, I will revive you, treat you until you recover, and start all over again. No one touches my family and goes scot-free.”
He pressed a remote. The television came on. It was a video from twenty-seven years ago—the gory scene and the voices of survivors and family members of victims crying.
“Use the remaining days of your life and atone,” Richard said, turning and walking out of the room.
“I did nothing wrong. Anyone would have done the same…”
Richard paused. “And if you think you have a slight chance of getting out, kill it. I found your secret armory. It was your plan B, right? Using it to bargain for your life with Don.”
Color drained from Edward’s face. “Lest I forget, Don is dead. It turns out he couldn’t survive long without his oxygen; he fled without it when the soldiers came,” Richard laughed.
“No! No! No!… Noooo!!!!” Edward’s confidence shattered.
Heaven sat with old man Johnson. The interaction this time was awkward because it was their first talk since she realized he was her father.
“How are you?” she asked him.
“I am fine, and you?”
“Fine.”
“If you don’t feel comfortable here, you can come home. If you don’t feel comfortable having us around, I have gotten you houses in all districts in Ivory City because I didn’t know which you preferred to live in,” Oliver explained, looking tense. “If you don’t want Ivory City, you tell me, I will—”
Heaven hugged him. His vision blurred. He hugged her back. “It’s not your fault, old man,” she whispered.
“I was a coward. I left her when she needed me, and you had to suffer,” he said.
“Let’s spend the rest of our lives making up for what we lost. You started seven years ago. Let’s continue living instead of regretting—that’s what my mother would want.”
She brought out a camera. “She left this for you,” she said, handing it over. “She loved you so much…” He took it.
“I will come see Fabian soon,” she said.
Butler Rose dropped her resignation letter on Richard’s table. “It was my greatest honor working for this family, sir.”
Eleanor was present in his study too. “Did we do something wrong? Rose, I know I am a pain in the neck, please forgive me. This house needs you to run it.”
“No, madam, you were the sweetest. I am old, and my bones are getting weak. I want to use my remaining days on earth to travel around. I have trained two servants who have worked here for decades. They will serve you well.”
“But…”
“Eleanor,” Richard called her.
“Thank you, Rose. You have been of great service to this family. Just know our doors are open whenever you need a place to rest your head after each trip.”
He opened his drawer and brought out a black card.
“Your severance fee.”
“No, sir. You have given me a lot…”
“I am not giving it to you for free. You worked for it.”
She reached out and collected it. “Thank you, sir.”
If only they knew she had been the one who gave the intel that caused their son to be impotent today.
Butler Rose was finally free from her years of service, one she had started to save her son. Now her son was free, and so was she.
She took the elevator to the penthouse of her son. Since that last text, she hadn’t been able to reach him. Havilah was always with adults or Liam.
She rang the doorbell. Nobody answered. She did it a second time before inputting the code. The door opened. She turned on the light. She saw the house in a mess—broken bottles, tables turned upside down, decayed leftover food.
“Killian?” she called.
No response.
Then she heard a faint noise coming from his room. Her eyes widened in shock. She rushed towards the room to see Killian on the floor, tied to a chair.
“Oh my God, Killian.” She began untying him.
“I warned you about that bitch, didn’t I?”
Killian kept shaking his head, his eyes staring behind her, muffled warnings coming from his mouth.